Weekly Roundup – Momentum’s Finest On Saturdays VOL 11 [APR. 28]

This was a tough week around the city I live in, Toronto. Another act of senseless violence, that is becoming way too frequent in this world, took the lives of 10 innocent people and forever shifted this city’s history.

I won’t say anything else here other than #TorontoStrong.

Anyways, this feature marks Volume 11 of the Momentum’s Finest and we’ve got 13 blog posts and 7 podcast episodes to share.

MY POSTS THIS WEEK

Two posts were pushed live to Making Momentum this week, the 3rd interview in the Momentum Series and reflecting on two years of waking up at 5AM.

• Waking Up At 5AM Changed My Life – Win The Morning, Win The Day: For the last two years I’ve got up at 5AM and it’s totally changed my life. My health, wallet, career and personal well-being have all improved from the routine and system I’ve built.

• Momentum Series: Operation Husband Rescue – Blogging On A Mission: This week’s Momentum Series interview is with Michelle from the blog Operation Husband Rescue. Michelle shares her family’s story, financial goals and a bunch more. It was great connecting with her!

APRIL GIVEAWAY – LAST CHANCE

The April Giveaway for Momentum’s Finest Newsletter subscribers is a Udemy course of the winner’s choosing. Free knowledge!

The link to enter will be included in next week’s Newsletter, so make sure you subscribe in time.

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Well let’s dive into the 13 blog posts and 7 podcast episodes in this week’s Roundup.

PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG POSTS

How To Get Better At Talking About Money from Millennial Money Man

Bobby at Millennial Money Man shared this post on a topic I wish I had read 5-7 years ago. Money is such a taboo discussion point and the ability to breakdown that barrier or stigma is a worthy skill. Especially for your personal life with friends, family and loved ones. Bobby lists 7 tips to help you do just that! Is money tough for you to talk about with the other people in your life?

Do You Have What It Takes To Achieve The FIRE Lifestyle? from Prosperly Way

Sacrifice and self-discipline are key principles often required to reach FI. Prosperly Way’s post gets into some of those potential sacrifices and the mindset necessary for FIRE. From the extra hours worked to the willpower required, is it all worth it? To Prosperly Way it is. I really enjoyed this post and hope you do as well. With great rewards comes great sacrifice and self discipline. 

How I Save $14,000 A Year More Than My Peers – 9 Budget Cuts You Should Make from The Dividend Pig

Blake at The Dividend Pig outlines 9 areas for potential saving that almost anyone can be making in their budgets. 9 different expenses from everyday life that create the opportunity to make easy financial gains. If I knew someone struggling with their finances or looking to increase their savings rate, this is a great starting point. How many of these do you actively manage to generate savings?

150 Proven Ways To Save Money from PF Geeks

Speaking of saving more money and improving your money management, PF Geeks has us covered with this monster list! If I had read this at age 20, I would be sitting on a much fatter bank account. Literally 150 different ideas on how to save money, including links to tons of other blogger posts from around the PF + FI community. Get your coffee ready and dive into this super savings post!

Judgement Day! Frugal Or Cheap? from Money Scrap

This was a fun and interactive post! Money Scrap built out a frugal or cheap quiz that showcases some of the money decisions she makes. I consider myself frugal as opposed to cheap but also don’t strip myself of all of life’s luxuries. I cut back or make an effort to spend the least amount possible on things that don’t give me value or enjoyment. And in turn, spend more on the things that do! What did you think of the quiz? Do you consider yourself frugal, cheap or neither?

SIDE HUSTLES BLOG POSTS

Why Side Hustle Income Is So Important from Duke of Dollars on Dividends Daze

This is a guest post by Duke of Dollars on Dividend Daze that covers the potential rewards a side hustle can have on your financial journey. It’s a BIG post with a ton of data points, personal anecdotes and links to other resources. From side hustle ideas to the tax benefits and mindset for side hustling success, the post covers it all. In this digital age the opportunities are abound to develop diversified income streams.

BUSINESS & BLOGGING BLOG POSTS

How To Monetize A Blog: A Complete A-Z Guide from Do You Even Blog

Pete, Pete, Pete…you’ve done it again on Do You Even Blog! Another gem of cornerstone content for fellow bloggers to pull knowledge from. The Complete A-Z Guide is a fitting title given the depth and breadth of this post. Pete outlines the fundamentals but then builds out each different monetization strategy with a thorough description, examples, difficulty rating, best practices and recommendations. It even includes this great video to accompany it!

Is Making Money From A Blog Actually Possible? Your Top 21 Questions Answered from Making Sense of Cents

If you’ve ever seen Michelle at Making Sense of Cents income reports, you know she is absolutely killing it with her blog. We’re talking about $150,000 A MONTH! In this post Michelle fields 21 different questions about blogging and driving profits. If you’ve ever wanted to start your own blog or get a more thorough understanding of the potential expenses and revenue opportunities, this Q&A is a nice foundation of knowledge. Tons of info and actionable advice here!

17 Things To Include In Every Single Blog Post from Breaking The One Percent

Meredith at Breaking The One Percent pulled together this post on the essential elements of any blog post. Traffic is a key driver of success for a blog and there are some necessary inclusions in a blog post that you should include to help drive that traffic. The BTOP post includes a handy PDF that you can refer to whenever drafting a new blog post of your own. These 17 steps cover everything from the headline to the promotion and interaction necessary for success. More on BTOP later…

TRAVEL BLOG POSTS

6 Travel “Saving” Traps That Can End Up Costing You More from The Financial Diet

Deals and proposed travel optimization aren’t always what they’re cut out to be. Especially if you overlook the fine details or don’t know what you’re doing. Lindsey at The Financial Diet highlights some potential pitfalls of travel saving. Have you ever been victim to any of these in the chase of cheap travel? I am guilty of #4 on the list. I tried to optimize my flight costs and pushed the window too close on my bus transfer from the airport to home (across the American-Canadian border). The missed bus cost me a $175 taxi ride and all the cost-savings of my off hours flight were negated.

LIFESTYLE, PRODUCTIVITY & WELLNESS BLOG POSTS

How To Stay Motivated And Achieve More from Millennial Boss

Motivation, yes motivation. The difficult to tackle but uber essential skill and mindset for achieving success in whatever it is you’re pursuing. J from Millennial Boss (and co-host of FIRE Drill Podcast) tackles the topic of motivation in this recent post. What motivates people? What doesn’t motivate people? Which tools or resources can support with driving motivation? J looks to answer those questions and a bunch more in this valuable and enjoyable read.

Choose Courage, Get Uncomfortable from Accidental FIRE

This is a great post, a touching post! Struggles and challenges but the gumption and heart to overcome and push forward. Accidental FIRE shared this post that discusses a stutter that hung over him throughout his younger life and formative years. But putting himself outside his comfort zone eventually…oh just go read the damn post! It’s awesome. Get uncomfortable, overcome your fears and reap the rewards.

Alone from The Retirement Manifesto

As someone who moved away from all his friends and families on two different occasions, including a 4,800 kilometre move, to pursue my education and a chosen career path, I can relate to selectively being alone. The loneliness and issues that come from that in the guise of pursuing a greater good. Fritz from Retirement Manifesto reflects on the alone time he and his wife have opted for in order to reach their greater good: early retirement. A sacrifice in order to accomplish that end goal. A powerful read featuring self-reflection, strategies to optimize this alone time and much more. Cheers to you Fritz!

PERSONAL FINANCE PODCAST EPISODES

Becoming Financially Literate And Succeeding With Money from The Mastermind Within

April is Financial Literacy Month and Erik at The Mastermind Within has been churning out great content. Both in written form on the blog and in this podcast interview with Jake from Financial Health And Wealth. This great discussion covers a variety of money topics, including but not limited to Jake’s financial backstory and journey, the necessity of budgeting, investing and management fees that will raid your returns.

What’s Your Best Investment Strategy from Money Peach

Joining Chris on the Money Peach podcast this week is Larry Ludwig, the founder of Investor Junkie. Given Larry’s background and forte, the duo chat extensively about a variety of investment strategies and avenues available in 2018. From robo-advisors to real estate investing opportunities and everything in between, Larry and Chris share actionable tips and resources to check out.

Best of the Best Money Apps, Programs, Products And More from Millennial Money

Shannah at Millennial Money (not to be confused with Grant) covers the gamut of financial resources in her podcast episode this week. From You Need A Budget to the Chase Sapphire Card and mobile saving or investing apps, if you need a refresher on what’s currently available, this is the episode for you. Lots of services, products and apps are covered here, so be sure to take notes or have a browser ready.

Do I Really Need A Financial Advisor? from Marriage, Kids And Money

Joe Saul-Sehy from the lovely Stacking Benjamins Podcast is the guest on this week’s episode of Marriage, Kids And Money with Andy Hill. Joe is a former financial advisor, of 16+ years, and sheds light on the industry. From the negative connotation on financial advisors to the benefits of working with the right one, it was an intriguing conversation. Great stuff from Andy & Joe, two of the nicest guys in the community!

SIDE HUSTLE PODCAST EPISODES

Start Your Side Hustle from Personal Profitability Podcast

You know when Nick Loper from Side Hustle Nation joins a podcast as the guest, it’s going to be good! Nick hopped on the Personal Profitability Podcast with Eric, recorded live at Podcast Movement 2017 in October, to chat about all things side hustling. It’s an old episode I hadn’t caught when originally released but it’s a quick one coming in at only 23 minutes. They still find time to cover Nick’s backstory, Eric’s initial side hustles, podcasting, money making ideas and much more.

LIFESTYLE, PRODUCTIVITY & WELLNESS PODCAST EPISODES

The Ultimate Calendar Management Solution from Lead To Win with Michael Hyatt

I am always looking for new productivity tools and discussions on best practices to implement in my personal and professional life. Time management is at the forefront of skills I continually want to improve. In this week’s Lead To Win episode, Michael and Megan discuss all things calendarizing and prioritization. Lots of ideas and takeaways here to better manage your own time. I am currently using a combination of Todoist and a moleskin journal for my own planning, scheduling and prioritizing. What do you use?  

Hurry Up And Fail from The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Kennedy is a former UFC fighter and Green Beret sniper. This week he joins Tim Ferriss to discuss failing, mindsets for success, travelling the world, mixed martial arts, army life, TV work…and a bunch of other silly, off the cuff topics. This episode won’t be for everyone but I am always interested in hearing the story and mindset of people from a walk of life that is so different from anything I can comprehend. Fighting in the UFC and in the US Army are two things I will never do but it’s engaging for me to listen to someone who has.

WEEKLY SHOUTOUTS

• Breaking The One Percent: I won their Blogging Resource Giveaway last week! I got a free course subscription to the Udemy course Twitter Marketing: 2 Minutes A Day To 10K. Woo! I will take the course and share a review on the blog. Big thanks to the whole BTOP team for this!

• Camp FIRE Finances: My post 30 Small Wins Challenge – Make Momentum With Your Money & Life was featured on their April 25th trifecta of feature articles. Cheers to Camp FIRE and everything they do for the PF and FI blogging communities.

BOOK I AM READING

I am on book #11 for 2018 in my quest to read a minimum of 25 Books On Personal And Professional Development, my post outlines the full reading list for the year.

I’ve just started reading the highly rated and reviewed Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life by Gary John Bishop. A refreshing, BS-free, self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past self-imposed limitations.

So far it’s great!

What book are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below.

THAT’S A WRAP…

Another Saturday, another Weekly Roundup in the books! Tons of great content as usual to fill the podcast and Feedly queues.

Have an awesome weekend and catch you soon.

Cheers!